


Mayhem Comes A Meddling

by bluepulsebluepulse



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman: The Animated Series, DCAU mashup, DCU (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Bart Allen - Freeform, Bart Allen/Jaime Reyes - Freeform, Bluepulse, Harley Quinn - Freeform, Jaime Reyes - Freeform, M/M, Sort of a blend of Young Justice and Batman The Animated Series I Guess, Speedbuggy, WIP, emancipation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2020-12-27 11:41:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21118205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluepulsebluepulse/pseuds/bluepulsebluepulse
Summary: Harley Quinn meets Bluepulse! ~ Turns out Harley is a big time Bluepulse shipper. And there's nothing she won't do to see these two love birds end up together.





	1. Realizations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PaintingWithDarkness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaintingWithDarkness/gifts).

Distant maniacal laughter echoed through her mind. Her vision fluttered before her eyes like the flapping wings of a bat. She could see two heavy-wear, custom-made, black boots standing in the pool of dirty water in front of her face. She could feel her cheek was wet as she was currently lying in that shallow puddle of water.

“It’s time to go Mrs Quinn.” The stern voice of Batman rang through her ears.

Without opening her eyes, she allowed herself to consciously analyse the pain racking her entire body. She groaned in agony, “Where’s Mister J?”

“He escaped.” Batman’s tone basically grunted in annoyance.

“What?” Harley muttered, “No, he couldn’t have, he wouldn’t have…” Harley began to observe as her emotional pain overtook her physical pain. She had just lost a brutal fight to Batman in which the Joker had left Harley to fend for herself while he made his getaway solo.

“Left you alone?” Batman finished off before scoffing.

Harley heard the click of the bat-cuffs closing around her wrists and her eyes shot open. A billion memories flooded through her concussed brain. All the times the Joker had mistreated her. Namely the time he had pushed her out the window of an abandoned building when she had come closer to killing the masked vigilante than her psychotic lover ever had.

“I’ve had enough.” The statement came through quietly.

“What?” Batman asked having not heard the whisper of a comment she had made.

Suddenly Harley’s voice went manic as she yelled, “I’ve had enough!”

She jolted upwards kneeing Batman in the jaw sending him stumbling backwards as she ran to make her getaway. Batman rubbed his jaw quickly before pursuing her. She jumped through a window head first, risking shards of glass to the head and face because let’s face it, she’s crazy. Batman jump kicked through another window in an effort to cut her off sooner. She had two options, she ran directly into mainstream traffic narrowly missing death on multiple occasions.

Batman watched in horror but nevertheless grapple gunned to a light pole to get a birds eye view of her location. He spotted her flipping up the emergency stairs on the side of a run down apartment building. Even though her hands were cuffed, that didn’t stop her from doing some impressive acrobatics up the side of the building. Batman had always been able to admire her acrobatics, she being the one person who actually was better than himself in that department.

“Stop!” Batman yelled firmly as she began running across the roof of the building.

“Not on your life!” The psychiatrist retorted.

Unfortunately for her, she ran over a glass ceiling that wasn’t able to support her weight. The glass gave way and she fell. Batman gasped as he was too far away to even have a chance at saving her and hoped she had survived the fall. To be honest, he had always had a soft spot for her. She was as much a victim as she was a criminal. The Joker was the most dangerous person in the world. Nearly anybody exposed to that mind would likely find themselves in a disturbing position such as herself.

Batman listened to her scream as she fell. He shortly arrived at the hole in the glass and peered down. He couldn’t see her anywhere. He carefully jumped down and landed safely before looking around. He grunted in disappointment with himself, he had let two crooks get away from him that night.

Harley had already grabbed a paper clip from a desk nearby to the floor she had landed on. She was already free of her cuffs and was sprinting for the exit. She burst out onto the street and ran into hiding. After an hour, she knew she was in the clear. If Batman hadn’t found her yet, he wasn’t going to.

She broke into a mall to steal a disguise before making a hasty exit before Batman was alerted to her whereabouts, but not before leaving a note for him. She headed to the safe-house she knew the Joker would be at.

Harley kicked down the rickety wooden door to the abandoned candy factory they had set up shop in.

“Harley!” The Joker exclaimed with surprise but a loving grin.

“That’s right you lousy, scum-sucking creep!” She gritted her teeth as she lobbed the insult, continuing to charge towards him.

“Sweety! Honey! I was going to come back for you honest!” He pleaded battering his eyes innocently as he took a few steps back.

“Oh yeah?” Harley challenged.

“Of course! Because you are my one and only baby.” The clown clutched at his chest lovingly.

“Really?” Harley’s voice went soft and forgiving as she slowed down.

“Of course pumpkin pie!” He said sickly sweet.

She stopped her assault to hug him with a smile to which he released a little bit of nervous laughter.

“I love you puddin’!” Harley confidently said over his shoulder.

“Mhm.” He soothed. She slowly recoiled like the calm before the storm.

“Aren’t you going to say it back puddin’?” She asked innocently.

“I don’t need to…” His nervous laughter returned, “You know how I feel about you.” He grinned his widest smile.

“I knew it. You don’t love me and you never will.” Harley completely pulled away turning away from him as a tear rolled down her cheek.

What happened next confirmed her suspicions. The Joker broke down in a maniacal cackle as he doubled over in laughter.

“Well… No more. I deserve better than this. Goodbye Mister J.” Harley spoke softly as she raised her mallet above her head. The Joker let out a confused sound before looking up just in time to be knocked unconscious.

Harley sobbed over the Joker’s unconscious body. She didn’t have much time left. She quickly put the cuffs on the Joker and tied him up. She then drove out of the factory taking their car, cash and other stolen goods with her.

The Joker woke up to find Batman standing in front of him. The Joker immediately tried reaching for his knife in his jacket pocket to lunge at the superhero but he found himself suddenly restrained.

“Huh.” He whinged.

“I didn’t know she had it in her, but she finally threw you under the bus.” Batman’s tone almost alluded to a smirk he was suppressing on his face.

“What?!?” The Joker snapped angrily. His breathing began to quicken.

“You’re going back to Arkham Joker. It’s over.” Batman pointed out before continuing, “Oh, and she not only left me a note to your whereabouts, but told me all about Operation Clown Town.”

The Joker had spent almost a year planning the perfect joke that he was certain would result in the Batman’s final demise. And she had just revealed all his plans to the caped crusader.

He shook violently in his restraints as he screamed angrily. Batman grabbed him by the scruff and escorted him to the police van nearby.

“I’m gonna find her! And I’m gonna kill her!” The clown threatened with resolve.

“I’m not going to let you.” Batman responded succinctly as he shoved the Joker into the police van.

Batman heard muffled threats come his way through the doors. He walked away to let the police deal with the Joker, he had to get back to Wayne manor to eat and strategize on how to catch Harley Quinn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I know this first chapter had absolutely no Bluepulse but I swear the next chapter will! Let me know what you thought in the comments?


	2. A Blow By Blow Account

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised! Finally some Bluepulse in Chapter 2!

“Master Bruce, you have barely rested all weekend.” Alfred scolded.

“I can’t. Harley Quinn is on a crime spree and I am trying to coordinate with other superheroes in other cities to capture her.” Bruce paused the news report about her latest heist streaming on the large monitor in front of him.

“I can’t leave Gotham to catch her. Not with the Penguin about to start another gang war.”

“Perhaps you can figure out where her travel bug will take her next?” Alfred offered.

“I am running an algorithm now to try and predict her next target.” Bruce informed.

“She has already attacked Metropolis, but Superman was off-planet so there was no one there to stop her. Come to think about it, all of the cities she has targeted have been ones where senior members of the league have been off-world.” Bruce’s eyes snapped up to meet Alfred’s.

“I know where she is going.”

The computer beeped a second later to alert Bruce to it’s result from his algorithm. As Bruce had deduced, the computer had just confirmed his suspicion.

“She’s going to Central City. The Flash is off world at the moment.” Bruce wasted no time picking up the phone to call the Watchtower. Bruce informed Terrific Man of the situation and instructed him to notify all superheroes in Central City to be on the lookout for Harley Quinn. Suddenly the crime alert went off in the bat cave, Batman excused himself from his phone conversation before running to the Bat-mobile to take care of the Penguin.

Terrific Man searched their database and narrowed down all the superheroes registered under Central City. The only available respondent was Bart Allen.

“Hello, is this Impulse?” Terrific Man asked.

“It sure is!” Bart chirped positively. He was admittedly loving being referred to as ‘Impulse’ again as opposed to ‘Kid Flash’. He felt like he was pretending to be someone else, Wally. Wally had his own identity, and even though Bart was only trying to bring honor to his name, he felt like he was losing his identity so he reverted back to his former alias.

“Batman wanted me to let you know Harley Quinn is going to be making a move on Central City. He wants you to be on high alert.”

“Sure thing! Thanks for the heads up!” Bart hung up quickly as he wanted to dig into the five course meal in front of him.

He had just finished eating when he got another phone call from the Watchtower.

“Harley Quinn has been spotted heading into the Central City Museum-” Terrific Man began.

“I’m on it!” Bart hang up again.

Terrific Man looked up with exasperation as he heard the line go dead, “Be careful…”

It took Bart a second to get dressed and run into the museum. He stood in the very middle of the foyer looking around for any signs of Harley Quinn. Bart heard a giggle from behind him and he span around and narrowly avoided a giant mallet smashing down in his place. Harley continued to swing the mallet which Bart continued to dodge with ease.

“Could you stay still for just a moment?” Harley asked sweetly.

“Not gonna happen lady.” Bart grinned arms crossed as he began to run in circles around her.

“I guess I will have to blow your socks off then huh!” She laughed as she abruptly pulled out a few small exploding marbles from her pocket and pelted them at the floor. They both got blown off their feet however Harley was able to handspring a landing and cartwheel out of the room whilst Bart crashed into the wall behind him. Bart heard her chuckle as he brushed bits of plaster off himself. Bart grunted in pain as he lifted himself off the floor and chased after her.

Harley ran up some stairs onto the second floor, continued running and looked behind her to see if she had lost Bart when suddenly she found herself hurtling towards the ground as she tripped on something. Bart was standing in front of her with his foot stuck out.

“Sorry, I had to cut your trip short.” Bart leered. Two could play at this game. Bart put a pair of handcuffs on her.

“Sorry I can’t go to prison. Orange isn’t my color.” She somersaulted right over his head much to his amazement and kept running.

Bart went to run after her and found himself falling towards the floor too. She had tied his shoe laces when he hadn’t been looking. Ok, this woman was good. Bart had to admit that. Bart undid his shoe laces and chased after her but couldn’t see her anywhere. It was then he heard soft sobs coming from around the corner. He ran out to see Harley standing in front of an abstract painting of a clown.

She heard Bart turn the corner and pulled her pop-cap gun on him. Bart put his hands up, not worried at all because he knew he’d have no difficulty dodging any bullets she fired at him. 

“Harley are you okay?” Bart asked softly.

“What do you care?” Harley snapped as she wiped the bridge of her nose with her forearm and sniffled.

“You’re upset. If you want to tell me what’s wrong, I will listen.” Bart offered before slowly sitting down on the ground where he stood and crossing his legs. If there’s one thing he had learned from his Flash family members, it was that sometimes communication was more effective than violence.

She eyed him suspiciously. “That’s a nice gesture speedy, but you wouldn’t understand.”

“Firstly, my name is Impulse. Secondly, try me.” Bart deadpanned.

She put the gun in her pocket and walked over to sit cross-legged in front of him.

“Okay. Well, Mister J and I... we broke up.” She started crying again at the memory.

“I’m sorry Harley.” Bart said sincerely.

“He couldn’t even say that he loved me back! Do you have any idea what it’s like to love someone who doesn’t love you back?” Harley frantically asked.

“Yeh I do actually…” Bart averted his gaze to the floor beside him for a moment.

“You do. Don’t you?.” Harley observed thoughtfully her tears vanishing.

“Harley, you can do better than the Joker.” Bart distracted her.

“I know, but I just miss my puddin’ so much!” Harley said dramatically.

“He tried to kill you! Many times! That is so not crash!” Bart gawked.

“Huh?” Harley tilted her in confusion.

“It’s a word I made up.” Bart dismissed waving a hand.

“And I thought I was crazy.” Harley joked smiling friendly for the first time since their interaction.

Bart smiled, “Look Harley, just try to move on. For your own sake. You deserve someone who treats you well!”

“Thanks spee- Impulse.” She smiled, “You know if you want to talk to me about your unrequited love I can listen! I am a certified Psychiatrist!” She beamed proudly.

“That’s a generous offer but-” Bart began eyes wide with panic as this conversation was rapidly growing too personal for his liking. After all, Harley Quinn was the walking definition of a loose cannon.

“Oh come on! I am a great listener!” She pressured as she gestured her arms above her head making the bells of her jester hat jingle.

“Sorry Harley, but I do have to take you to prison still. They can get you the help you need, maybe then we could talk?” Bart offered emptily as he stood up holding a hand out to her hoping she would take the bait.

Bart was worried she would try to run again, however she took his hand and stood up.

“Thanks for listening to me Impulse. You’re a good kid.” She pulled him into a sudden hug.

“Impulse!” Jaime yelled with concern.

Bart’s gaze snapped up to see Blue Beetle hovering at the end of the corridor. Bart immediately broke the hug off and gently shoved Harley away from him. Jaime began flying at them to attack Harley.

“It’s not what it looks like!” Bart blurted out without even thinking, though his context was lost on Jaime.

“Hang on a second. Is this-?” Harley asked a huge smile spreading across her face as she has some time to spare before her last second getaway.

Bart immediately caught on, “What!?! No of course not!” But Bart’s facial expression said it all.

Harley grinned but was quick to pull out an even bigger handful of exploding marbles this time because Blue Beetle was dangerously close to reaching her now. Bart saw as she began to ditch them at the ground and lunged up crashing into Jaime mid-air, before catching him and running them in the opposite direction to avoid being directly hit by the blast. However Bart, even with his super speed, struggled to escape having had no bearing on the ground whilst catching Jaime mid air and they got caught in the debris field to which Bart rotated them so that his body would take the impact of landing.

Unfortunately for them, the blast had been so big it blew them over the railing as they were on the second floor and Bart hit the ground hard but softened Jaime’s landing as he had intended.

They both had the wind knocked out of them.

“Argh!” Bart simmered in pain before pressing on, “Jaime what are you doing here?”

“The Watchtower told me you were apprehending Harley Quinn! On your own!” Jaime’s eyes widened to show his disapproval as he raised his voice for the latter part.

“Yeh?” Bart questioned gritting his teeth.

“Why didn’t you call me ese- Dios mio! Khaji Da says you fractured your ankle!” Jaime panicked.

“That would explain the pain.” Bart winced as Jaime accidentally knocked his ankle as he crawled off of him.

“Sorry!” Jaime gritted his teeth with concern.

“It’s fine! Speed healing remember! Just go check to make sure Harley is okay?” Bart asked.

“What? Why? I’m more worried about you!” Jaime gawked angrily.

“Please, that was a big explosion. She might need medical attention.” Bart’s expression was soft now and he knew there was no way Jaime could resist it.

“Ok ese, just quickly.” Jaime’s frown softened and Bart could tell Jaime loved that he had a big heart.

Bart let his head fall back to the ground as he waited for Jaime to see if there were any signs of an injured Harley Quinn when he heard a jingle near his ear. He lifted his head to see her squatting beside him.

“Ooh! I’m really sorry sweetie I didn’t mean to use that many marbles! I promise I’ll come back and help you out with beetle boy over there!” She giggled and followed that up with a wink.

Bart waved his hands frantically, “No, that’s really not necessary!”

“Alright, I’ll see you later!” Harley closed her eyes as she beamed her widest grin before cartwheeling out of the building. Jaime returned to Bart’s side moments later.

“There’s no sign of her, I’m taking you back to the medbay now!”

“But Jaime!” Bart whined.

“No buts!” Jaime sterned.

Bart groaned but a smile soon took over his face when Jaime had scooped him up and was holding him close to his chest.


	3. Food For Thought

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I have no idea how I feel about this chapter?

“I still don’t understand why you are doing this?” Jaime frowned. It was extremely difficult for him to remain still right now. The anger flowing through him made him want to pace, he was itching to burn off the frustration by moving around. But he stood there nevertheless, arms folded in discontentment.

“I think it’s important she feels…” Bart paused to consider what word he wanted to use, “supported!”

Jaime rolled his eyes. Bart’s heart was too big. He cared too much about people, even the ones who didn’t deserve it.

“You don’t have to come Jaime, and I promise I won’t be long!” Bart tried to soothe his clearly irritated best friend.

Jaime scoffed, “There’s no way in hell I am letting you go alone!”

Jaime took a step closer protectively with a stern expression on his face. Bart secretly loved that Jaime was so protective over him sometimes.

“Okay well remember amigo, it’s just lunch.” Bart tried to minimize the weirdness of it all. There was nothing Bart could say that would change how Jaime felt. The pair were about to have lunch with Harley as she was due at any moment to be released back into society by Arkham Asylum. Bart had convinced her during their last encounter that she needed help, and much to his surprise, she had agreed.

Bart wanted to ensure she felt supported re-entering society so he had suggested the two have lunch together. However, once Jaime caught wind of Bart’s plans, he was now on the guest list too. Jaime had made many complaints about Bart and his friendship with Harley, or whatever their relationship was to be called. Was this another speedster thing, being ridiculously close to your villains? Jaime would never understand. But given Bart always seemed to end up severely injured every time they crossed paths, there was no way Jaime was letting Bart see Quinn alone. He didn’t trust her or the supposed rehabilitation program.

“Thanks for coming Blue.” Bart smiled over at Jaime trying his best to send warmth over to his best friend as he drove the pair to the restaurant.

Jaime was able to briefly observe Bart’s smile out the corner of his eye and he was reminded he should probably focus back on the road before he killed them both by an irritated scarab. Jaime couldn’t stay mad at Bart, not when he smiled at him like that.

“De nada.” Jaime said softly. He was actually weary of how long he remained frosty with Bart and got worried quite often that his sourpuss ways would insert a wedge between them; however it seemed Bart was the one person on the planet who could take any quantity of Jaime’s eye rolling, arm crossing, frowning, serious-all-the-time attitude and not be put off. Jaime loved that about Bart. He just had acceptance, love and happiness in such abundance he could tolerate anything and genuinely not be bothered by it either. No one could take that away from him, and Jaime tried to ignore the feelings that began seeping into his consciousness. He knew he liked Bart, he knew he needed someone like Bart. Bart was honestly in all regards, the perfect partner for him. They balanced each other out perfectly. Even Khaji Da agreed with him on the matter, which made ignoring the scarab’s comments about pursuing Bart even more difficult.

“Uh Jaime?” Bart asked placing a hand above Jaime’s knee.

The somewhat intimate contact immediately caused Jaime’s heart rate to quicken.

“Si?” Jaime questioned ignoring Khaji Da spewing suggestions in the back of his mind.

“You just went past the restaurant? We needed to turn back there?” Bart pointed back over his shoulder with a grin. His grin softened and changed to a look of concern, “Are you alright? You seem… distracted?”

“Yeh. I’m fine! Also I will detour back down this street here.” Jaime wanted to pull over because his concentration was no longer dedicated to the road. Besides, it was hard enough driving as it was; it was a skill he rarely utilized due to Khaji Da enabling him to just fly everywhere. Driving was one of those things Jaime rarely did anymore and his skill for it had clearly diminished over time.

Bart’s hand retreated from Jaime’s leg and unclasped his seat belt as they were now parked. Using his speed he dashed open to the driver’s side and opened the car door for Jaime. Jaime raised an eyebrow.

“Here you go sir.” Bart gestured fancily as if there was a red carpet awaiting Jaime’s arrival.

Jaime shook his head. Bart just grinned and turned to watch the headlights flicker as Jaime locked the car via the wireless keys.

“This is so weird ese.” Jaime broke the silence as the pair sat in a booth waiting for the former villain.

Bart stopped drumming his fingers and looked up at his taller best friend, “I know. I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you later! Name anything you want and it’s yours!” Bart beamed widely as he waited for a response.

Jaime if anything couldn’t help but get stuck on the word ‘anything’. Khaji Da showered Jaime in brutal encouragement to accept the offer and request copulation. Jaime jumped and smashed his knee cap under the table in horror at the blatant way the scarab had suggested it, not to mention the further details he kept spouting.

“Dios mio, that’s not what he meant!” Jaime hissed gripping his head.

Bart was too busy trying to recover from the jump scare Jaime had given him. He could still hear the clinking sound the cutlery had made when Jaime’s knee had tried to launch the table into outer space. As a superhero, it was rare to get frightened by sudden noises or actions, however Bart was always relaxed around Jaime when they were off duty so things like this still got past his defenses. However on the field, Bart was always concentrating and ready for anything.

“You alright amigo?” Bart questioned with that indescribably unique tone that just made Jaime want to melt. He loved Bart’s voice. Forget his supposedly sexy Spanish accent! He’d take listening to Bart’s voice over his own any day. His voice was already soothing the pain in his knee.

“Yeh, just Khaji Da being a pain again. Oh and my knee hurts now.” Jaime grunted as he struggled to stretch his leg out in front of him.

Bart watched as Jaime got irritated trying to find room for his long leg and reached out to put his hands on Jaime’s knee cap and began massaging the muscles.

“Does that feel better?” Bart asked not taking his eyes off Jaime’s knee as he worked his magic fingers.

Jaime held back a moan, “Si.” 

Jaime bit his lip in an effort to stop himself from saying something he was worried Bart wasn’t ready to here. He honestly had no idea where Bart’s head was at when it came to relationships. He didn’t even know if Bart liked guys? Or girls? Honestly depending on the time day, Bart seemed either gay, straight or completely asexual. He flashed back to seeing Bart hugging Harley, the memory filled him with jealousy. In fact, their entire friendship filled him with jealousy.

“Blue you just got really tense?” Bart observed as he felt the muscles he was massaging stiffen in betrayal of the resentment swirling in his mind that he was trying to hide.

Bart looked back up at Jaime now who looked rather bitter.

“You’ve been kinda weird today amigo, you know you can tell me anything Jaime.” Bart looked back with wide, adoring eyes.

Jaime began to open his mouth as his expression softened, “I-”

“Hey guys!” the bottled-blonde sang.

“Harley!” Bart exclaimed as he got up from the seat to hug her before promptly returning to Jaime’s side.

Harley observed the expression on Jaime’s face when Bart hugged her. Harley greeted Jaime and heard him mumble back what had to be the most pathetic response of a greeting she had ever heard.

“Congratulations on… uhh… getting better!” Bart cheered butcheredly as he tried to decide on a polite way to refer to rehabilitation.

“Thanks!” she responded sweetly, “Yup! I am rehabilitated and ready to re-enter society!”

“Waitress!” Harley hollered enthusiastically drawing the eyes of other diners in their direction. Jaime started to sink into his chair with embarrassment.

“Could we please have some menus?” Harley asked the lady who was quick to her side not wanting her to cause another commotion in the restaurant.

“Of course.” The lady scurried off quickly.

“So who’s paying?” Harley smiled at the pair exchanging a patient look as she awaited a response.

Bart and Jaime stared at each other blankly for a moment before she broke out into laughter, “I’m just kidding! I will pay for myself obviously. But I am curious to know, Jaime, will you be paying for Bart or...?”

“Yes?” Jaime lingered on the single worded response as he looked back with confusion.

Harley nodded. She took a mental note of his answer and continued to observe Jaime’s body language as well as analyse his responses to a set of other questions. It took her less than five minutes to have a full grasp on Jaime’s feelings towards Bart. She was delighted to come to the conclusion that Jaime had feelings for Bart in return but wasn’t going to say anything due to a deep rooted fear of insecurity. She was going to have to leverage Jaime into a position to realize his need for Bart outweighed the need to be stuck in an unhealthy mindset in which he chose to believe nobody would want him because of Khaji Da. She could empathize, having an alien scarab with a violent temper fused to your spine that talks to you could certainly be seen as off putting to most people but Bart loved Jaime regardless, and he needed to find out. Bart was too scared of losing their friendship so he wasn’t going to say anything either.

“Neapolitan ice cream is better than plain old chocolate ice cream!” Bart defended.

“Sorry ese but you’re wrong. You can’t be plain chocolate.” Jaime argued with a grin.

“Neapolitan ice cream has chocolate ice cream in it! As well as vanilla  _ and  _ strawberry! How could you not love that! It’s more flavors!” Bart gawked, his love for ice cream becoming evident.

Jaime chuckled. He thought Bart was adorable. Harley thought both Bart and Jaime were adorable, she was going to get them together if it was the last thing she did. She had after all given Bart her word, but these two were just made for each other. She began scheming as she watched Bart chuckle softly as Jaime let him win the argument; before then watching him rest his head on Jaime’s shoulder and watched as Jaime then closed his eyes and reveled in the contact. These two were hopelessly in love and she couldn’t stand for not doing something about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are greatly appreciated?


	4. Love Is Blooming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not exactly confident with where I took this fic from this point onwards so... sorry if it sucks

Harley kept her head down as she paced down the sidewalk of the highway. She had decided to go for a walk to clear her mind of lingering regret over turning the Joker over to Batman. Her regret flickered to righteous indignation every time she walked under one of the street lights, only to revert back to regret when she was walking in the shadows again.

“I miss you Mr J.” Harley whispered, the wind carrying away the soft admission.

Harley sighed in pity for herself when suddenly she noticed a figure approaching her from ahead. It was too dark to make out whether it was a man or a woman. Harley paused as she tried to decide whether to run or fight.

“Hello Harley.” The sultry voice of a woman came out of the dark.

“Who- Who is it?” Harley called out nervously as the figure stepped out of the shadows revealing a dangerously vibrant green costume on a slim pair of legs.

Eventually Harley’s eyes were met with a fiery red hair to match. She was all bright colors.

“Oh! I know you!” Harley said happily, “You’re Poison Oaky!”

“Ivy!” The woman snapped with irritation.

“Oh. Sorry.” Harley peeped quietly.

“That’s okay.” The woman soothed taking a few steps closer, “I was wondering Harley, would you be interested in working for me.”

“Me?” Harley paused as she brushed a curl of her blonde hair aside, “Working for you?”

“Yeh. I need someone with good acrobatics skills for a heist.” The plant lover explained.

“I- I am touched Red.” Harley gestured at her hair, “But uhh… I’ve gone straight.” Harley chuckled nervously before deciding to walk away before surrendering to temptation. She did miss her old villainous ways. It was so much easier when she was able to take what she wanted, when she wanted. Now she had to work hard and pay for everything herself.

“Suit yourself.” Poison Ivy said, her voice smoother than the surface of a balloon.

“I just thought it would be nice to work with a professional. I know you have the skills, as you can tell from the sexy body.” Ivy grinned as she dolloped out the compliments.

Harley stopped in her tracks and span around slowly causing her caramel trench coat to twirl.

“You think I’m sexy?” Harley asked optimistically.

“Very.” Poison Ivy flicked a generous chunk of her red hair covering her chest over her shoulder to show off her promiscuous figure.

Harley couldn’t lie. She liked what she saw. It felt weird to feel attracted to someone else. Especially when it felt like she was cheating on the Joker. But she wanted to remain strong, she was moving on from him. Echoes of his laughter when he had refused to repeat the three words to her bounced through her conscience giving her the strength to ignore her feelings for him.

“I suppose one little job couldn’t hurt… We won’t be hurting anybody will we?” Harley asked with concern as she pressed her two forefingers together nervously.

“Of course not darling.” The temptress soothed.

Poison Ivy moved slickly to her side and wrapped an arm around her waist, “How about you come with me, and we can talk details?”

“Uhh… Sure!” Harley chirped after a moment of hesitation.

“Oh. I’m so glad you’ve agreed to help me Harl, you’re a lifesaver.” Poison waved a hand around victoriously.

Harley let an excited squeak jump out of her mouth as she was finally beginning to feel useful and worthwhile to somebody again. More specifically, a potential partner. She had to face it, being a sidekick was in her nature.

The pair walked off into the night, Harley’s imagination on fire with the excitement her new partnership with Ivy would bring.

The next day the pair woke up in Ivy’s bed. Harley was never one to turn down a good time when it was offered. Especially not from a vixen like Poison Ivy.

“Morning Harl.” Poison Ivy traipsed into the room carrying a tray with breakfast.

“Hey Red.” Harley began before her cell phone vibrated on the night stand. She discreetly unlocked the phone and saw a message from a blocked number, however she knew who it was from. It was a message signed from Impulse, and it was a message aimed to check up on her. She smiled sweetly at the reminder of the sweet kid who was trying desperately to look out for her. But she was much older than him, and knew better. She understood how the world truly worked. But nevertheless, she agreed to meet up with Bart for an impromptu check up.

“What’s that about?” Ivy batted her eyelids begging for an explanation.

“Oh. It’s nothing!” Harley cheerily lied, “What’s for breakfast!”

The woman hesitated a moment as a frown quickly worked its way off her lips, “Salad and beet juice!”

“Mmm.” Harley hummed.

Harley wolfed down the breakfast before excusing herself, “Sorry Red, but I have to go.”

“Aww. That’s a shame. Are we still on for the heist tonight?” Ivy checked her tone conveying the importance of her answering with a ‘yes’.

“Yes!” Harley exclaimed, “I’ll catcha later Red!” Harley danced out the door quickly.

She drove the Joker’s car over to the meetup as she had held on to it. It had been disarmed and converted to a regular car pending her release as she couldn’t afford a new one, but the justice system was not about to let her drive around in an armed vehicle. It had take the mechanics days to remove every threat from the car and clean out every hidden compartment.

“Hey Harley.” Bart smiled before sensing something awkward with Harley’s lack of willingness to give him a hug. He waved instead. Harley had seen Jaime standing, arms folded, right next to her speedy little friend. Harley had remembered how salty Jaime had looked when Bart had hugged her at the diner they had met up at a few weeks prior and decided to implicitly help by not hugging Bart.

“Hey Impulse!” She said cheerily to offset her distant stance.

“So… How are you going?” Bart asked as Jaime made not effort to say hello.

“I’m doing pretty well!” She chuckled nervously, her mind retreating to last night.

“Crash!” Bart beamed looking over at Jaime. Jaime begrudgingly smiled back because he was happy to see Bart happy. But he didn’t like smiling in front of Harley. It ruined his intimidation tactic. But he couldn’t not smile at Bart’s adorable face.

“Well… I’m really proud of you Harley. You’re making an effort to do good! And that’s great!” Bart complimented with his hands on his hips as he teetered.

“Impulse, we have to go, the League’s just sent out an alert.” Jaime interrupted.

“Sorry Harley we got to go! Message me if you need anything!” Bart offered with a smile before scooping Jaime up and running away to the coordinates in the transmission. Jaime smiled as Bart carried him. He was also smiling again now that they were away from that psychotic woman that he was just waiting for, to let Bart down. He knew she would regress to her old ways. Jaime had tried to tell Bart, but he was optimistic and chose to believe that she would stay strong. Bart wasn’t entirely in denial, he knew it was a likely possibility, but knew that she could stand back up and dust herself off if she did fall over.

“Sure…” Harley peeped sadly once the pair were gone.

She felt conflicted. It wasn’t too late to tell Ivy that she wasn’t going to go through with the heist. She had worked too hard to get to where she was, she couldn’t give it all up now. Even for a giant diamond from some stuffy museum.

She marched back to the car and jumped in before speeding back to Poison Ivy’s temporary out of Gotham accommodation. She was determined to tell Ivy she was no longer going to help with the heist. Harley just hoped they could still remain girlfriends, or friends with benefits, or whatever Ivy considered them.

“Ivy?” Harley called out as she walked into her house.

“I’m in the garden out back!” Ivy shouted back.

Harley slinked through the house and walked out the sliding doors into the forest of a garden Poison Ivy was squatting in the middle of. Harley watched as Ivy graced the leaves with her touch, gliding her fingers across the leaves. She knew how magical that felt.

“Um… Ivy… I had something I wanted to tell you.” Harley began nervously.

“Not now.” Ivy stood up and grabbed her hand leading her inside, “Look!”

Harley gasped as she admired tonnes of stolen jewelry spill out of a brown paper bag that Ivy emptied onto her kitchen table.

“I got these, all just for you.” Ivy soothed.

“For me?” Harley pressed her hands to her cheeks in delighted shock, “Oh Red! You shouldn’t have!” Harley began wading through the priceless jewellery. The rush washed over her as she slid a bracelet on. She remembered the thrill of thievery. It was intoxicating.

“Well… I like you. If that weren’t the case, I wouldn’t have traveled here all the way from Gotham to find you.” Ivy raised her eyebrows to sell her point.

“I like you too Red.” Harley smiled back warmly.

Ivy walked over before kissing her passionately, “There’ll be more time for this later, we have some planning to do!”


	5. Unexpected Pulls

“Thanks for flying me home Blue.” Bart has his head pressed a little closer to Jaime’s chest than usual, causing him to smile extra widely.

Jaime gracefully landed the pair in Bart’s backyard and placed Bart on his own two feet.

The pair stared at each other in the moonlight. Jaime was certain they were both feeling the same thing.

“So…” Jaime blinked nervously as he armored down.

“Oh. Well thanks for flying me home amigo! You know, you’re welcome to crash at my place if you want, you must be exhausted after that mission.” Bart smiled innocently.

“That would be great.” Jaime smiled as he forced his eyes to look back up at the speedster’s eyes as opposed to his lips.

“Crash!” Bart exclaimed arms flying upwards before the dog next door barked in retaliation to the unwelcome noise in the night.

Bart chuckled sheepishly, “Oops.” Bart whispered.

Jaime chuckled and followed Bart into the house.

“Be quiet amigo, Barry and Iris are probably asleep.” Bart warned in a hush. Jaime nodded.

Once they reached Bart’s room, Bart spoke at a normal volume again, “So did you want the air mattress? Or did you want to sleep in my bed? Because it’s probably a lot more comfortable than the air mattress.” Bart gestured his hand openly as he stated his obvious fact.

Jaime blushed, “I guess, you’re bed? If that’s okay?”

“Of course amigo!” Bart chanted happily.

Jaime lingered on the use of the word ‘amigo’. It was very frustrating just being his friend. And Bart seemed to be giving him signals, but at the same time he wasn’t sure. Jaime watched as Bart slid under the covers in his pajamas which he had speed changed in to. His red flannel pajamas made him look adorable. Bart beamed at Jaime as he waited for his friend to join him under the covers. Jaime chuckled nervously and began sliding under the covers when he got an alert from the Watchtower.

“No!” Jaime whined slamming his fists down on the bed in frustration.

Bart scrambled up in sudden fear, “What’s wrong? Did I do something?” Bart panicked.

“No…” Jaime hung his head in his hands, “The stupid League is requesting we attend a break in near by.” Jaime’s words were dripping with anger.

“Oh…” Bart peeped with disappointment. As Jaime slowly got back out from under the covers, Bart appeared in front of him again in full uniform, “Don’t worry Jaime. I’m sure we can take care of this quickly! And we’ll be back before you know it!” Bart smiled optimistically eliciting a hopeful smile from Jaime.

“We’re the dream team you and I!” Bart belted confidently, “Let’s go!”

Jaime melted hearing Bart refer to them as the ‘dream team’; in fact, he was glad his armor kept him all in one piece. Bart placed Jaime down in the museum foyer.

“Wait a second, this is the Central City Museum. It’s where I first met-” Bart paused as his jaw fell open in response to the pain the knife in his back had caused. He had been betrayed. In the bleak light, Bart could see Harley Quinn. “Harley…”

Jaime instantly looked worried as he watched Bart’s face fall apart. He knew this regression to a life of crime for the lady in the jester costume would hit Bart hard. Like the hammer that suddenly sent him flying straight into the same wall Bart had crashed into during their first entanglement.

“Harley!” Bart shrieked his voice breaking, “What are you doing?” Bart resisted the urge to attack her for hurting Jaime, but his lip trembled with anger over her choice to clobber him.

“I’m- I’m sorry Bart. I am helping out my new girlfriend!” Harley sounded heartbroken as she slumped her shoulders in defeat having been caught out.

“What? Girlfriend? Who? Why?” Bart said in quick succession, “I don’t understand?”

Before Harley could answer Jaime blasted her into the wall opposite him with his sonic canon. She groaned in pain as she tried to get up off the floor.

“Harley!” Poison Ivy screeched with concern as she came into the room. With a fierce expression, Ivy raised her hands upwardly causing the ground to shake. The carpet was suddenly punctured by a slew of vines that slithered out of the ground. It was rather creepy to watch. The vines began circling Jaime’s legs and as he blasted the assaulting weedery off his right leg, a larger vine grabbed his arm and held it back stopping him from freeing himself completely.

“Blue!” Bart shouted his voice wracked with fear as Jaime began choking when a vine tightened around his neck like a snake. He turned to face the woman manipulating the plants, showing her his greeted teeth. She knew he meant business. She had no time to conjure anymore plants to stop him before she found herself knocked to the floor aggressively.

The plants stopped moving as Ivy’s control lapsed in her lack of consciousness. Bart immediately ran to Jaime and began ripping the plants off of him beginning with the one around his neck. Jaime helped free himself simultaneously.

Ivy was standing up again rubbing her temple as Bart turned to her to threaten her with a chilling tone, “If you mess with him again, I’ll do a lot more than knock you over.” 

Jaime shot his staple gun at her nailing her to the wall. She growled angrily that the battle was no longer on her terms. She clenched her fists. Suddenly an obscene amount of greenery burst out of the walls consuming her. As the leafy mass disappeared, it revealed Poison Ivy was gone and had escaped.

“Jaime. Cuff Harley.” Bart said angrily with a hint of sadness in his tone.

Jaime produced a pair of modified handcuffs out of his staple gun and wrapped them around Harley’s hands behind her back. They were makeshift cuffs that would certainly hold her until the authorities arrived. Speaking of which, their blaring sirens rang through their ears as if on cue.

Bart crouched down to face a saddened Harley, “I trusted you!” Bart shouted. She had never seen him made before, neither had Jaime. It was rather unsettling.

“I’m sorry Impulse. I had to… for love.” Harley justified with eyes begging for forgiveness.

Bart shook his head. He knew damn well that Poison Ivy had somehow managed to manipulate Harley Quinn back into a life of crime. It filled Bart with rage. First the Joker warped her mind, and now Poison Ivy was messing with it. Harley was just too susceptible to manipulation.

Bart sighed as the cops burst in through the building. They escorted the traitor away. The paramedics also took the brainwashed security guards away on stretchers to give them Poison Ivy’s mind control antidote.

“Let’s go.” Bart said to Jaime sadly. Before Jaime could speak, Bart had picked him up and ran him back to his bedroom.

Bart slid straight back under the covers and lied facing his back to Jaime who stood beside the bed pondering what to do. Jaime walked around to the side of the bed Bart was facing and crouched down to line up his eyes perfectly with Bart’s.

“Are you alright?” Jaime asked looking apologetically back into the hurting green eyes.

“No.” Bart peeped softly, “I just- I couldn’t help her. I feel like I didn’t do enough. Maybe if I had of tried harder…” Bart mused.

“No.” Jaime interrupted, “Bart you did everything you could! Unfortunately we can’t always help people, sometimes people need to find their own way. But please don’t blame yourself. This isn’t your fault. You’re the sweetest, most caring guy I’ve ever met.” Jaime said softly resting a hand on Bart’s shoulder through the duvet.

Bart smiled back and Jaime tried not to faint at the glint of glee that swirled around in the happy, warm, pools of green in response to the compliments.

“Don’t let it get you down. You’re stronger than that.” Jaime smiled supportively.

“Thanks Jaime.” Bart leaned out from underneath the quilt and wrapped his arms around Jaime to give him a hug.

Jaime exhaled pure happiness all over Bart’s back.

Suddenly Bart’s grip around Jaime tightened, causing his eyes to pop. Bart began pulling Jaime onto his bed from the bedroom floor. Bart grunted as he heaved but chuckled as he succeeded with getting Jaime to end up sprawled on top of him. Jaime couldn’t help but chuckle too.

Bart’s cheeks became really flustered with the proximity of their faces, not that Jaime could see it in the dark.

Jaime rolled off of Bart’s chest and settled next to him, Bart having made it clear he wanted Jaime in the bed with him. Jaime knew he couldn’t stay there any longer or he would kiss Bart until his lips were the color of Bart’s nickname for him.

“So you’ll be okay?” Jaime whispered over to Bart.

“Yeh. But, can you hug me, I’m still feeling kind of sad.” Bart was grateful Jaime couldn’t see the grin on his lips as he failed to keep a straight face as he told the blatant lie.

“Sure.” Jaime chuckled, pulling Bart close into a side hug.

Jaime was just glad Bart couldn’t see his face as he smiled and mouthed grateful words to a higher power (which he didn’t actually believe in but he was deliriously happy).

“Goodnight Jaime.” Bart whispered.

“Buenas noches Bart.” Jaime returned.

And both of the men took a long time to fall asleep as they simmered in the magic that was one another’s presence. Eventually the pair did drift off into dreamland, however their smiles remained docked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have melted writing this chap


	6. Borrowed Items

“I can’t believe she left without me.” Harley cried obnoxiously into a tissue.

“I’m sorry Harley. That must have been difficult.” The Arkham therapist empathized.

“I can’t believe I repeated the pattern again! I know I have an emotionally based obsessive compulsive disorder! I just can’t help it. I need to be loved!” Harley wiped her tears away with her hands.

“So you understand the prognosis Harley. You know your stuff. What would you say to someone who came to you with the same problem?” The soothing tone came from her ex-coworker.

“I would recommend Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.” Harley sniffed.

“Yes. And you know how to apply it. Try applying it to yourself.” The woman crossed her legs and smiled as she scribbled down on her notepad.

“Thanks Dr Leland!” Harley smiled.

“You’re welcome. I think by the end of the week you’ll be out again. You were only assigned time for breaking and entering. But Harley, you seriously need to try your best to avoid coming back here.” The woman gazed at Harley with serious eyes.

“I’ll try. As soon as I get out, my first stop is Central City. I have an apology to make.” Harley stood up from her chair and walked out the room with resolve. Only one more week and she would be free again to travel back to Central City. She had been sent back to Gotham since she was an Arkham regular and they were the only facility permitted to hold her given her track record of jail-breaks, prison riots and gang affiliations. 

She was just glad management had kept her and the Joker in different sections of Arkham Asylum given their less than sterling parting. Arkham’s staff knew better than to put those two anywhere near each other from past experience.

The week went by relatively quickly and she was out. She called in some old favors to get some cash for transportation to Central City. After hopping out the cab, she questioned her choice of destination. She looked forward at Ivy’s house. After having walked up the uneven path of pavers leading to the front door, she knocked. After a minute of no response, Harley figured Ivy wasn’t home. And Harley knew she always left the door unlocked. She wasn’t scared of anything, so she never felt the need to.

Harley let herself in and took a few supplies. She felt guilty as she was essentially breaking and entering. Honestly, she didn’t know where her relationship with Ivy sat, but she had a mission. She took what she needed and left as quickly as she could. She was glad Ivy hadn’t been home because she couldn’t have imagined that confrontation. She was still steaming mad that Ivy left her behind and just used her for a heist. Now she had to make it up to the one person who had actually tried to do right by her.

“What’s a girl gotta do to get noticed around here…” Harley muttered.

She bit her lip as she tried to think of legal ways to get the speedster’s attention. The only ideas that came to her all required breaking the law, even if it was as little as breaking and entering. Unfortunately there was no speedster-signal she could shine in the sky. She thought about how she could make one, but none of her ideas were realistic. There were no lighthouses in the area. He might not even see it, even if she did make one.

She had to use the proven method. She sighed. “Taxi!” The ex-therapist hailed.

“Where to today miss?” The friendly driver inquired.

“Central City Museum please.” Harley smiled back at the man staring at her in the rear vision mirror.

She walked into the museum and knew she would have to kill a few hours until it was closing time where her plan would begin. She entertained herself walking around and putting an effort into learning some new things about the city's rich history. And she did. There was some truly fascinating information for public consumption on offer.

“Ladies and gentleman, the museum closes in five minutes. Please head towards the exit.” A woman’s voice rang over the speaker system.

Harley grinned, it was time to put her plan into motion. She walked over to the dinosaur exhibit and jumped over the railing. She then laid down in the shrubbery and hid from the security guards as they did their final rounds rounding up any stray visitors. Usually a few elderly couples were still lingering around the building before they could lock up. Harley waited patiently and looked at her watch, once the lights went out, she leaped into action. She jumped up from the shrubbery and sprinted across the room until a proximity sensor alarm was tripped. She then dashed back and hid in the shrubbery, just in case Bart wasn’t the first respondent.

She giggled as she rustled around in the greenery waiting for someone to show up. Surely enough, Bart showed up as he ran around the building searching for signs of the intruder he prayed wasn’t Harley. To his knowledge she was still supposed to be in Arkham, but he didn’t believe in coincidences.

“Impulse!” Harley called out as she stood up from the shrubbery at a regular speed so as to not startle him.

“I thought it was you!” Bart folded his arms angrily.

“Impulse please! Just listen! I wanted to say sorry. I promise I haven’t stolen anything! I didn’t even break in! I just hid in this exhibit here they shut and then triggered the alarm. I mean, I didn’t really break any laws. But I just really wanted to say sorry. I shouldn’t have let Ivy talk me into another heist.” Harley hung her head low in shame.

Bart exhaled with irritation, “Look, I appreciate you apologizing. But you need to clean up your act-”

“I am! I swear! I just came here to apologise. I didn’t know how else to get into contact with you.” Harley pleaded with her hands. She slowly began trotting through the long grass at the forefront of the exhibit as she headed towards Bart slowly. Her foot got tangled up in the grass and she tripped and fell over in the grass. Bart shook his head at her clumsiness. She really was crazy, hiding in the grass like a gazelle. What a plan…

Once she had wobbly stood back up again, she managed to get out of the exhibit and over the railing again. She scratched her butt, “God that stuff is itchy.”

“Anyway, Impulse I am really sorry about letting you down. But I am going to make it up to you!” She exclaimed with reassuring eyes.

Bart swallowed nervously, “Harley you don’t need to make it up to me. Just take care of yourself okay?” Bart turned around sadly and began walking away.

“But Impulse, you don’t understand! I came up with a plan to get you and Beetle Boy together.” She hollered out desperately.

Bart stopped dead in his tracks like the stuffed animals around the room. He clicked his tongue in frustration as he couldn’t resist the temptation. He span slowly to see Harley beaming proudly.

“It’s Blue Beetle.” Bart corrected raising an eyebrow shocked at her ability to remember names correctly.

“Right. But I have a plan!” She emphasized.

Bart sighed and rubbed the nape of his neck. He was dying of curiosity. But he was going to listen to the old adage, ‘curiosity killed the cat’. “Harley, you need to stop obsessing over trying to fix me up with Blue.” Bart was pained. He felt like this was all his fault.

“It’s okay! I know what I’m doing! I’m going to take care of everything!” She chirped confidently.

Bart shook his head subtly. He was really worried about how exactly she was going to ‘take care of everything’. Bart was immediately worried for Jaime’s safety. He needed to get Harley back to Arkham again and away from both himself and Jaime. Harley clearly needed more rehabilitation, she still wasn’t thinking rationally.

“Harley. I’m really sorry but you need to go back to Arkham.” Bart hung his head low in sorrow.

“Don’t you even want to hear my plan?” Harley’s face saddened.

“No.” Bart said, despite that answer being the polar opposite of how he wanted to respond.

“Well! I’m not letting you take me back to Arkham until you at least let me tell you my plan!” Harley whined as if she was a little child.

Bart knew she could make dragging her back to Arkham a difficult task, he decided to fold and give in, “Okay, fine.”

Harley smiled again, “Come sit!” She patted the ground next to her after having sat down herself. Bart ran over and sat down with his legs crossed and his hands resting on his knees.

“Ok Harley, I’m listening.” Bart stated flatly as he dwelled on the fact that Jaime would be livid that Bart hadn’t contacted him for back-up yet given he now knew it was Harley he was dealing with.

“Good! Well… Oh my god! Beetle Boy?” Harley questioned suddenly leaning to look behind Bart with a shocked expression on her face.

Bart, having no sense when it came to anything Jaime related, swiveled his head around quickly to locate his best friend. By the time Bart had realized that Jaime wasn’t actually behind him, it was too late. Harley had bent down and kissed the hand resting on the knee closest to her. Bart’s pupils dilated and his shoulders slackened.

“Sorry speedy.” Harley ruffled Bart’s hair affectionately.

She groaned as she stood up and stretched cracking a few bones.

“Alright! Follow the leader!” Harley cheered stretching her arms above her head with amusement.

Bart followed her out of the building without a word.


	7. Pardoning The Puppet

“Jaime Reyes you need to calm down. Your heart rate is too high.” Khaji Da warned.

“I’m gonna kill him!” Jaime shouted as he flew through the sky at top speed. He almost couldn’t hear himself over the wind fluttering in his ears.

“Killing the Bart Allen would not be advised.” Khaji Da prattled back.

“It was a figure of speech!” Jaime rolled his eyes.

Jaime had been alerted of the museum break in and had feared Harley Quinn’s return. And Bart wasn’t answering his comm link. Jaime was choking in fear. He was more afraid right now for Bart’s safety than he had been for his own when Ivy’s plant was squeezing the life out of him.

“His coordinates are just up ahead.” Khaji Da notified.

“He better have a bloody good explanation for not taking my calls!” Jaime furrowed his eyebrows angrily.

Khaji Da landed the pair at the front of the building Bart’s tracker was beaming from inside of. “Why is he in a jewelry store?” Jaime questioned with confusion. Jaime was struggling to hear himself think over the security bell screaming away.

Meanwhile inside, Harley had just finished giggling with delight after having smashed every one of the glass cases protecting the jewelry as if she had been popping bubble wrap.

“Be a sweetie and hold these would ya’?” Harley asked as she dumped the handfuls of jewelry she had scooped up into her arms into his.

“I’ll be right back! Mama needs a new diamond necklace from out back!” Harley cartwheeled out of the room into the back room where she knew all the priceless pieces were secured. She got to work trying to infiltrate the safe.

Jaime busted down the door and charged in ready to take on the thief. He was surprised to see Bart was already on site. Maybe that’s why he hadn’t answered his comm link, he was in the middle of a mission.

“Impulse!” Jaime exclaimed happily. He was so relieved to see Bart alive. Jaime waited a few moments and was a little stunned that Bart hadn’t responded, he hadn’t even turned around.

“Impulse?” Jaime repeated with concern this time at the eerily still speedster.

Bart slowly span around, almost zombie-like. Jaime was not prepared to see the lifelessness in his eyes. This was not Bart, not his Bart. That was the first thing he noticed. Shortly after, Jaime then noticed that Bart was holding a lot of stolen jewelry. Jaime gasped. Jaime ran over to Bart and grabbed his shoulders.

“What are you doing?” Jaime begged hoping there was some reasonable explanation. His panic ever rising, Jaime was still not getting a response.

“Bart! What’s wrong with you?” Jaime shouted with desperation. He shook a non-responsive Bart causing him to drop a lot of the jewelry.

Harley cartwheeled back into the room after having cracked the safe and robbed the store of all the most valuable pieces it had to offer.

“Oh Jaime! I was wondering when you would get here!” She grinned.

“What did you do to Bart?” Jaime snapped angrily. Khaji Da had already provided an explanation twice but he had been to ruffled to listen.

“I borrowed some of Ivy’s mind control lipstick. Gave him a quick kiss and well… now he’s under my mind control.” Harley explained happily as if it were the kind of thing one did on a daily basis.

“I never did trust you.” Jaime scowled back. He let his gritted teeth convey just how angry he was.

“Yeh yeh.” Harley mocked waving a hand disinterested in hearing him recap his feelings for her, she started to walk away but suddenly found a tightly gripped hand on her arm.

“You’re not going anywhere.” Jaime growled.

“I beg to differ.” Harley smirked, “Bart! Protect me!”

Jaime suddenly found Bart shoving him away from Harley. Satisfied with her work, Harley made a run for the door but there was no way he was letting her escape, or letting a brain-washed Bart stop him.

Jaime turned to run after her but Bart used his speed to knock Jaime to his side. So far he was taking relatively soft approaches to stopping Jamie. It gave him a shred of hope Bart was holding back. Maybe somewhere deep inside he was fighting it.

“Khaji Da! Help me stop Bart and Harley!” He instructed with frustration.

“Sorry Bart.” Jaime said sadly as he formed a staple cannon and began firing at Bart. He dodged the first few as he always did, but Khaji Da was eventually able to calibrate his position and succeed in pinning him down. Jaime quickly angled his arm to fire a staple at Harley stopping her about an arm’s length away from the door. Jaime took a deep breath of relief knowing just how close she had come to getting away.

Jaime charged over to Harley who groaned in agony as she tried to wriggle out from the uncomfortably tight cobalt blue staple around her waist. 

“Fix him!” Jaime demanded, standing in front of the woman on the wall.

“I would if I could honey.” Harley shrugged before continuing, “He won’t respond to my command to free him. Watch!” Harley craned her neck and yelled, “Bart! To my side!”

Bart had to phase out the staple, but he was promptly by her side awaiting further instructions.

“I free you of my mind control!” Harley indulged Jaime’s disbelief in her.

Jaime’s heart sank as he could visibly see Bart was still very much a slave to her mind control, despite her command to release him. Jaime grabbed the white fabric that laced Harley’s neck and scrunched it up threateningly, “How do I fix him? There has to be some way to undo this!”

“I mean there’s one possibility.” Harley looked at the ceiling thoughtfully, “But it might not work.”

“Tell me.” Jaime’s eyes squinted even more.

“Well, you could try overwriting my control by placing him under your control and trying to free him that way?” Harley explained as a potential way of fixing the issue at hand.

“And how exactly would I do that?” Jaime asked impatiently. He wasn’t well versed in Poison Ivy or her villainous tools of the trade. He wanted her to give him every detail he needed to fix this.

“In my pocket, there’s a vile of lip-stick. Once you put it on your lips, you simply kiss whoever you want to control and then their mind is yours. Simple!” Harley sounded almost too happy to provide this explanation.

Jaime screwed up his face in disgust. “You kissed Bart?” Jaime yelled angrily as he became the living definition of jealousy.

Harley shrugged, “Had to be done Beetle Boy.”

Jaime frowned and aggressively reached into her pocket and pulled out a shiny emerald tube of lip-stick. He removed the transparent rose colored lid and rolled out the creamy green product. As Jaime raised it to his lips Harley interrupted, “You’re going to trust me? Just like that?” She taunted.

“I’d do anything to save Bart.” Jaime quipped back without looking at her.

Against Khaji Da’s strong contesting, Jaime took the leap of faith and coated his lips with the lip-stick before dropping the vile on the floor. He suddenly gripped both of his own cheeks. The lip-stick tingled away on his lips for a few moments and it had felt extremely odd. Once the sensation had subsided, he looked back up Bart who stared back at him lifelessly.

Jaime took a deep breath. This is not how he wanted their first kiss to go, but he wasn’t going to be pedantic about that sentimental stuff right now. Bart needed saving and that was more important.

“Here goes nothing.” Jaime murmured, as he retracted his face plate before slowly leaning in closer and closer to Bart’s face. His heart was beating so loud he could hear it echoing within the armor. His lips were only a hair away from Bart’s own now. Jaime hovered as he thought about the fact that this was officially the closest his lips had ever gotten to Bart’s own. This physically intimate moment superseded the time that he had been pulled on top of Bart in his bed. He felt guilty given how much pleasure he felt being this close to Bart. And that only increased tenfold when Jaime finally pressed his lips firmly against Bart’s. Jaime reopened his eyes when he heard a squeak come out from underneath him. Bart’s eyes were wide open and he was clearly in shock.

Jaime immediately pulled away, “Bart!” Jaime’s voice wobbled.

“I thought I would have to give him the command to release him from your control before he was free?” Jaime asked frantically looking at Harley with horror.

“Guess I was wrong.” Harley grinned back smugly flicking her legs happily back and forth as she watched the kiss.

“Jaime? What’s going on?” Bart begged with concern. His cheeks were as red as his suit.

“You don’t remember? You were under mind control and-”

“Mind control!” Bart panicked. “I’m so sorry Jaime, I didn’t mean to- I should go-” And with that the speedster had disappeared.

“No! Wait!” Jaime called out after him.

“No!” Harley whined, “This was not how it was supposed to go!” Harley whinged.

“What are you talking about?” Jaime snapped irritated as hell.

“This was supposed to be the most romantic get together ever!” The woman explained.

“What?” Jaime ogled in confusion.

“Haven’t you figured it out beetle boy? I thought speedy said you were smart!” Harley said sarcastically, continuing after Jaime frowned, “I put Impulse under my mind control to force you into a position where you had to kiss him so that you would finally have to confess your feelings for one another! I was going to get to witness the most romantic love confession ever! And now it’s all turned to crap!” Her tone was loaded with irritation.

Jaime was admittedly shocked. He had no idea that this had all been a set-up orchestrated by the crazy woman. He was still a little confused on some of the details.

“What do you mean Bart would have to confess his feelings for me?” Jaime asked incredulously.

“He’s in love with you! Duh!” She shook her head with disappointment at his stupidity.

“Did he say that to you?” Jaime stammered.

“Technically no. But anyone with eyes can see it! And you like him back too. Don’t even pretend you don’t, I’m a psychiatrist.”

“But he just ran off... “ Jaime started as he tried to wrap his head around it all.

“Probably because he thinks he was kissing you! He was just under mind control! Who knows what he thinks?” Harley sounded concerned for the speedster’s mental well-being. Ironic given she was the one who had put him under mind control in the first place.

“I gave him the command to only come free of my mind control when you kissed him, not when I gave him permission to be set free. Perhaps I should have worded that differently to allow for some overlap.” Harley said as she reviewed the flaw in her otherwise brilliant plan.

“I need to find Bart now.” Jaime insisted. He didn’t even care about Harley right now. He would deal with her later, and if she happened to get away, so be it.


	8. New Beginnings

Jaime had almost arrived at the El Paso dessert. A place where Bart and Jaime usually hung out when they were in El Paso together. Bart heard Jaime coming but made no effort to run. He just turned to look at Jaime through apologetic, tear-filled eyes.

“Bart I-” Jaime began with a voice wavering in strength.

“Jaime, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I did when I was moded by Ivy’s stupid lip-stick. But I’m really sorry for kissing you! I guess I was actually acting on my impulses. I guess it’s only fair to tell you I have feelings for you and I know that’s no excuse for what I did but-” Bart stopped his frantic babbling when he felt Jaime’s arms around him. He hadn’t even realized how close they were until he felt Jaime’s breath against his forehead.

“Bart. You didn’t do anything. Actually... I was the one who kissed you.”

“You were?” Bart’s questioned as his breathing settled, the information sinking in providing him with relief he needed, now that he knew he hadn’t forced himself onto Jaime without knowing it.

“It’s a long story. But you didn’t do anything wrong.” Jaime assured tightening his hold ever slightly.

“Wait… what did happen? Why did you kiss me?” Bart blushed as he allowed himself to actually dwell on the fact he had been kissed by Jaime. His cheeks were watermelon pink the night time light.

Jaime blushed in response to Bart’s blush, “I was told it was the only way to free you from your mind control…”

“Oh.” Bart peeped with disappointment as he looked down at Jaime’s chest unable to maintain contact with him. He had hoped Jaime had done it because he had wanted to. And he had kind of gotten that impression given the intimacy of the hold he was in.

“But I need to be honest with you Bart, I enjoyed it, because I have feelings for you.” Jaime grinned sheepishly waiting for Bart to make eye contact again. His eyes immediately flicked back up with shock.

Bart’s eyes arched with hope at hearing the confession, “You like me too?” Bart asked a smile growing on his lips.

“Si.” Jaime chuckled.

“Crash.” Bart whispered in disbelief.

“Can I kiss you again, but for real this time?” Jaime asked nervously.

“Doi.” Bart grinned, his normal confidence radiating off of him.

Jaime leaned back down and kissed Bart this time feeling much better about it. And now that Bart was able to kiss back, Jaime was experiencing a tingling sensation on his lips again. An overwhelmingly pleasant one this time. It turned out Bart was a good kisser.

“So would you be interested in being my boyfriend?” Jaime asked when their lips parted ways momentarily.

“Yes!” Bart jumped in Jaime’s arms with excitement causing the taller of the two chuckle.

Bart reconnected their lips once more to show just how happy he was.

“I hate to say it Jaime, but we should probably go back to the museum and take Harley in.” Bart admitted.

“I suppose you’re right.” Jaime groaned.

Bart picked up his boyfriend and ran them back to where they had last seen the woman whose real name was Harleen Quinzel. The pair stared at the empty staple, she was gone. Bart continued running around with Jaime to find her. And they eventually did.

She was about to be shoved into the back of a police vehicle for transportation back to Arkham Asylum. Bart ran over and asked the officers politely if they could speak to her quickly. Upon being granted that privilege, Bart ran over with Jaime and placed him down.

“Impulse! I turned myself in. I’m going back to Arkham. I’m sorry for ruining things between you and beetle boy.” Harley looked like she was about to cry out of guilt.

Bart smiled much to her surprise, “Actually, it all worked itself out. And I’m glad you are voluntarily going back to Arkham for more help. That’s progress!” Bart encouraged. It was only then it dawned on him regarding the mind control issue. His tone became angry,”Wait a minute! Did you kiss me on the lips! To put me under mind control?” Bart’s eyes were bulging in disgust similar to Jaime’s when he had been under that impression.

Harley chuckled, “No, I kissed your hand. I never told Jaime, and he never asked, but the lip-stick is potent enough to work on any part of the skin. Jaime assumed it was the lips only, which is exactly what I wanted.” Harley grinned.

Bart shot Jaime a smirk to which he could only blush in response

“Well I better be going. I’ll see you two later. Good luck with everything!” Harley smiled warmly.

“Good luck Harley.” Bart smiled and patted her on the shoulder.

The officers pushed her into the vehicle and drove away.

“So what do we do now?” Jaime asked.

“Could you fly me home, I’m tired. And then you can uhh, spend the night if you’re too tired to travel home.” Bart raised an eyebrow whilst grinning.

“Sure carino, sure.” Jaime chuckled.

Jaime picked Bart up and began flying off towards the Allen family home.

They were only seconds into the flight when Bart requested that Jaime retract his face plate. Once Jaime had done as he asked, he wasted no time snogging his boyfriend midair. They both hummed as they closed their eyes and got lost in the kiss.


End file.
